What is PlayStation Plus and why do I need it?

Best answer: PlayStation Plus is Sony's subscription service for all things PlayStation, and it's available to purchase on a month-by-month basis or for an entire year. With it, you get access to online multiplayer, cloud storage, exclusive deals, and much more.

Cloud game saving

One of the handy little perks of a PlayStation Plus subscription is the ability to save your games to the cloud. One way this can be of benefit is to save you some precious hard drive space. If you find storage to be limited on your system then the ability to move some of your saves to the cloud can free up some space for other things. In addition, you can also access your saves from anywhere. That way if you're going to be playing on a different console your precious saved games are always ready for you without the need to carry around a USB drive.

What's even better is that what was once a measly 1GB of cloud storage — and then 10GB of cloud storage — was raised to a whopping 100GB for PS Plus members for 2019.

Instant Game Collection

If you are looking to expand your game library, a PlayStation Plus subscription is a great way to do it. As a Plus subscriber, you will have access to two free PlayStation 4 games every month. Once you have a game in your library it will remain there as long as you have an active PS Plus subscription.

Share Play

Share Play is a generous offering from Sony. It's essentially the modern day digital equivalent of having a friend come over and sit on your couch to play a game with you. With Share Play, you can do a few things. First, you can broadcast your gameplay to a friend or share screenshots. That in and of itself isn't entirely revolutionary. The coolest part is that you can invite a friend to take control of your game or join you in multiplayer even if they don't own a copy of that particular game.

Online Multiplayer

If you're looking to play online multiplayer games then a PlayStation Plus subscription is pretty much your only option. There are some games that are free to play online even if you don't have PS Plus. However, if you're looking to play the most popular top-tier titles then you are going to need a Plus subscription to do it.

Deals Deals Deals

In addition to all other benefits mentioned thus far, with a PlayStation Plus subscription you will have exclusive access to some pretty deep discounts on PlayStation titles. I have seen some top games on sale for sometimes as much 80% off. Plus members usually have the added benefit of receiving an extra 10% or so off of a games already discounted price. Those kinds of savings have the potential to offset the cost of a PS Plus subscription in pretty short order.

The cost of a PlayStation Plus subscription can vary based on the method by which you buy it. For the most part, the best deal is to buy it a year at a time. At the time of this writing, a year of PS Plus is going to set you back $60. That may seem like a lot at first blush but if you take into consideration all the free games and savings you will have access to it pretty much pays for itself.

If you would like to give PlayStation Plus a test drive you can always try 14 days free to see if it's right for you. However, I can say from experience that if you have the money, then it's worth every penny.